Introduction
At Qargo, we support both commercial and logistics data in our customs and shipping workflows. This article explains how the system handles the Buyer and Seller roles, and how they relate to the Consignor and Consignee roles you may see during transport and import declarations.
Terminology
Term | Definition |
Consignor | The party of the shipment that is responsible for sending the goods. Typically linked to the Seller for transport and safety declarations, but the role focuses on logistics movement. |
Consignee | The party receiving the goods at the destination. Typically linked to the Buyer for transport and safety declarations, but the role focuses on logistics movement. |
Seller | The party involved in the underlying commercial sale of the goods. Required data for import declarations as the transaction value depends on this party. |
Buyer | The party purchasing the goods in the underlying commercial sale. Required data for import declarations as the transaction value depends on this party. |
ENS/ICS2 | European Union safety and customs declarations for goods in transit; used to assess risk and ensure security during transport. Requires Consignor and Consignee data. |
EORI | Economic Operators Registration and Identification number; used to identify parties in customs processes and ensure compliance. |
Master Data | A single source of truth for key business entities (e.g., customers, Buyer/Seller records) used across shipments and declarations. |
Prefill | The process of automatically populating Buyer/Seller data into a shipment record to streamline data entry. |
Archiving | The process of marking records as inactive or historical, affecting how they appear for prefill and selection in future shipments. |
On-the-fly data entry | Entering Buyer/Seller information during a workflow when a suitable record does not exist in master data. |
Permissions | Access controls governing who can view, modify, or link Buyer/Seller data and related records. |
Key Roles and When They Matter
Logistics roles (Consignor and Consignee): These are the parties involved in the physical movement of goods. They are required data fields for transport and safety processes (such as ENS/ICS2).
Commercial roles (Seller and Buyer): These are the parties involved in the underlying commercial sale of the goods. They are required data fields for import declarations because the transaction value depends on the relationship between Seller and Buyer.
📚 In many simple transactions, the Consignor may be the Seller and the Consignee may be the Buyer.
How Qargo Uses Buyer and Seller Data
Import declarations:
Seller and Buyer data are mandatory because the declared value of goods depends on the commercial transaction between these parties.
Data and Master Records
Qargo introduces fields to link consignments to Buyer and Seller. This helps you:
Prefill buyer/seller information when possible
Maintain a single source of truth for master data
Ensure EORI compliance where required
We recognise that not every transaction will have all Buyer/Seller details available upfront. In such cases, you can:
Use existing customer records (when available) as Buyer/Seller
Add Buyer/Seller information via EOIR number on-the-fly if needed, while understanding security and data integrity considerations
Prefill, Archiving, and Permissions
Prefill logic: When possible, Qargo will prefill Buyer/Seller information to streamline order data entry. This also includes when using the scanning feature, suggestions are offered to complete the form.
If the information is archived or restricted, the system will hide or disable prefill to avoid displaying outdated data.
Prefills are available in Order default options on:
Transport service
Company profile
Location (NOTE: buyer/seller field is outside the order entry defaults)
Archiving behaviour: Archived Buyer/Seller data is not automatically selected or shown in prefill. You can re-activate or re-link records as needed with proper permissions.
Permissions: Access to Buyer/Seller data and the ability to modify or link records is controlled to protect data integrity and comply with governance requirements.
User Experience
Users will see:
Tags or indicators showing the Buyer and Seller associated with a consignment
Options to select an existing customer as Buyer or Seller
Prompts to enter new Buyer/Seller data if no suitable record exists
The goal is to surface necessary Buyer/Seller information without duplicating data or complicating workflows for archiving and master data management.
Practical Guidelines for Users
Always provide roles when the data is available:
Seller / Buyer for commercial transactions
If the transaction involves multiple parties, ensure the correct Buyer and Seller are linked to the appropriate consignments.
Use existing customer records where possible to minimise duplicates and improve data quality.
If you need to add or update Buyer/Seller information, follow the guided prompts in Qargo with appropriate permissions.
How to use Buyer / Seller roles
🧰 Buyer / Seller functionality requires activation.
Contact your account manager or Qargo support for help activating this feature.
Configuration
1. Activate fields
To use the buyer / seller fields in an order, make sure the fields are enabled.
Navigate to CONFIGURATION > Additional Fields
From the ORDERS side menu, select 'Consignments'
Click into the 3 options and set to ACTIVE
Buyer
Seller
Seller EORI number
From ORDERS side menu, select 'Location'
Click into the Buyer/Seller prefill option and set Active
Click SAVE.
2. Buyer/Seller Masterdata
Add details to dedicated database to be used in order creation and data export
General Info:
Include all critical company details, mandatory fields include:
Name - Name the company is identified by
Name on invoice - Legal billing entity that invoices will be addressed to or included in customs details
These are the billing locations of the buyer/seller companies.
Contacts:
Add contact name, email and role as a minimum to enable using contact details for contact tasks, ie: email notifications.
Import/export aliases:
Aliases are alternate identifiers (names, codes) for a party or data entity to ensure correct matching across systems when primary identifiers aren’t a perfect match.
Benefits:
Improves data matching and reduces duplicates
Maintains regulatory alignment (e.g., EORI) when names vary
Enables consistent data routing and governance across ERP, carriers, and customs portals
Matching logic checks primary names first, then aliases
UI can display primary name and aliases to reduce confusion
Create specific alias for import or export data purposes
Use toggle to enable scanning alias for order confirmations
When enabled, this will take into account the alias when scanning confirmation documents for order imports.
3. Locations
Add a Buyer/Seller field where a different location can be selected.
This is the buyer/seller company entry, linked and used as a prefill for order entry.
4. Create contact tasks
Select the 'Addressed to' party here. We allow for the buyer/seller to be addressed if it’s present on the consignment.
📚 Contact tasks for buyer/seller are created at the consignment level.
Include roles in an order
Once fields are active Buyer / Seller companies can be selected in the consignment details
Where the company is included in the Buyer/Seller database, a label will show on the company record
Use inline editing to update the company details if required.
📚 Buyer, Seller and Seller EORI number can be added as columns, with filters to the Order List view. Use the Customise button to toggle these options on.
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Export data
Buyer and seller data can be added to Order Export reports
Where buyer/seller is activated, but nothing is configured on the consignment, fallback for data exports (PDF and BigQuery):
Seller = pickup location
Buyer = delivery location
‼️ Super admin users only are able to modify export templates.
Troubleshooting
What happens if a user archives a buyer/seller profile that is in use?
Archived Buyer/Seller data is not automatically selected or shown in prefill. You can re-activate or re-link records as needed with proper permissions.
Why is the prefill not working?
Check if the company is active / inactive - Inactive (archived) companies will not support prefill order defaults.
Check the Buyer/Seller profile for any import aliases
Validate data fields match for the import and create aliases where necessary
What if I already have a customer profile that I want to use as a buyer/seller. Do I have to manually create the company again in the Buyer/Seller database?
You’re able to make an existing customer a buyer/seller from their detail page.
Click into the customer profile
Use the 'Create buyer/seller' link at the top of the page
All the existing customer details are copied over, make any updates needed
Click SAVE
From the order:
Select regular customers from the dropdown
Use the '+Create new buyer/seller' to add to the database
Buyer / sellers that are marked as such will have a tag indicating this and shown at the top
Once saved the customer will become marked as buyer/seller
Why is my order import data incorrect and showing the wrong company name?
Verify alias coverage:
Check if the intended company has an alias that should match the imported name; ensure the alias exists in the master record.
Validate external system mappings:
Confirm that the alias-to-master record sync is running and that external systems (ERP, CRM, customs portals) recognise the same alias.
EORI and identifiers:
Ensure the alias maps to the correct EORI or tax identifiers to avoid regulatory misclassification.
Correcting an import:
If a wrong company name was imported:
Re-map to the correct master using the appropriate alias
Update the shipment record to link to the correct Seller/Buyer master
Prevention measures:
Use autocomplete with alias support to reduce manual entry errors
Maintain a single source of truth for each party and discourage duplicate records
Regularly run data hygiene and deduplication routines on master data